The Audit Office is repeating a call for government agencies to move to paperless accounting as the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for it to complete the verification of projects in outlying Regions and at several ministry departments where staff rotation limited the scope of the audit.
“Now, more than ever the Audit Office has to rely on technology in performing audit procedures. This makes it more challenging, as we may not be able to physically observe all processes. The requirement to access everything remotely and electronically with limited IT capabilities affected both the Audit Office and its auditees,” Auditor General Deodat Sharma said in the 2019 Audit report which was laid in the National Assembly yesterday.
Sharma detailed how the pandemic and public health mitigation measures such as rotation of workers and travel restrictions affected access to Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten preventing physical verification of projects and resulting in severe limitation in scope of the audits.